[matilda] Social centres tour proposal

[stu h]

Hi there

One thing we discussed at the informal social centres gathering in Leeds 
was the idea of having joint tours - political groups, music, plays, 
film premieres etc etc.

Here is a proposal from an old friend of the Bradford 1 in 12 and a new 
friend of Leeds Common Place. It would be really good to hear what 
different centres think about sharing this tour in a well coordinated way.

stu
(from the common place in Leeds)
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 From Mat Callahan: Proposal to UK social centres network for music and 
talk tour June 2006

Hi, my name is Mat Callahan. I'm a musician, author and political 
activist. Originally from San Francisco, I was a founding member of the 
band 'The Looters', whose politically charged world music captured the 
attention of Jello Biafra who put out our debut release on Alternative 
Tentacles before we signed to Island Records.

I have a great affinity to and political interest in social centres. The 
Looters poured our notoriety and resources into a social centre / arts 
collective called Komotion International that ran for 11 years in San 
Francisco (1986-97). It was a spawning ground for many musicians, 
artists, filmmakers and political activists. The collective also 
published the Komotion International sound magazine which combined 
graphic and literary art with audio recordings of performances at the 
centre.

Following the demise of Komotion social centre, I moved to Switzerland 
to produce records and have since written a book, "The Trouble With Music"
(published by AK Press), that exposes the rot at the core of the Music 
Industry and calls for a complete re-evaluation of the relationship of 
music to society. Since the book was published in May 2005, I have been 
giving talks in bookstores, coffee houses and universities in the US and 
the UK. In many cases, these were accompanied by solo, acoustic concerts 
of my songs. These two elements - performing and talking about the music 
industry - were most successfully combined during the radical film 
festival 'The Revolution Will be Televised', organised by the Common 
Place social centre in Leeds in November, 2005 where I gave a talk 
during the day and performed music in the evening.

I really want to help develop the social centres network in the UK, 
especially sharing the experience gained building and maintaining such a 
centre in San Francisco. My proposal is to conduct a three week music, 
film and discussion tour of UK social centres in the second half of June 
2006 or beyond. I would play acoustic sets with my musical and life 
partner, Yvonne Moore, and could be accompanied by other local 
musicians; I have two films that were made in the heyday of the Looters 
and Komotion that could be shown; and I would like to talk about the 
ideas set out in my book as well as network with musicians and other 
activists about educating about and challenging the way the music 
industry works.

For social centres, this could be an opportunity to raise funds, bring 
different music or performance acts together, show other films etc - I 
am open to all suggestions, whatever works for you all. I am happy to 
talk or play depending on what people want on a case by case basis.

Expenses are minimal: these include travel from Switzerland and within 
the UK, food and accommodation. The purpose of such a trip would be to 
aid social centres and, most of all, to help link them together in a 
UK-wide network. In most venues no equipment is needed.  I will bring my 
own guitar or one can be found for me that is suitable.

Otherwise, a normal PA system with a beamer for the films would be all 
that is required. 

I should also note that I have reserved the weekend around May 1 for the 
UK if that is a possibility.

Please let me know what you think

Yours in solidarity

Mat Callahan
http://www.matcallahan.com/ 
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